Academic fiction. Grinning between figments of his imagination, Senior Tim Skaggs hopes characters like Bryant Baxter (left) and Lucy Walker (right), from his book Business as Usual, will eventually evolve into a career and a genre of writing he may have created.

Speech communications senior Tim Skaggs calls his recently finished book, Business as Usual, academic fiction.

Yet, his fellow students say Skaggs’ first book, off to publishers now, has turned dry, theoretical concepts into nothing short of an “edu-drama.”

The book began as an independent study for Skaggs and serves as a supplement to Speech and Communication Chair Will Powers’ organizational communications course. It’s a story about the people at Baxter, Brickhouse and Jones, a fictional Fort Worth marketing firm.

And while students immerse themselves in the relationship antics of characters such as highly charged vice president Lucy Walker and crotchety 77-year-old CEO Bryant Baxter, they get an insider’s view of various styles and attitudes about organizational communication.

“While my students are learning about concepts and philosophical ideas from the class,” Powers said, “they are able to relate to the characters in Tim’s mini-novel, which is based on the information in the text book.”

The response has been overwhelmingly praise worthy. On the class website, where the book currently resides, Junior Abigail Allen wrote: I liked all of the twists and turns the plot took and was interested in the way things unfolded in the organization over time. That is an excellent way of showing that corporate communication is definitely something that has to be worked at, but is in a constant state of change!

Powers and Skaggs see the application of this genre to many other subjects.

“It would be the cat’s meow if Tim would make a career out of an independent study class,” Powers said. “It’s been wonderful to see the students saying Eureka! as the concepts come alive.”